Once Upon a Beat
by LunarDarkness8897
Summary: What if when the cast of Once Upon a Time go to the underworld, Henry instead goes to the afterlife? Yes, Henry goes to the afterlife and meets our favorite Rebel members. Does Henry help the Rebels Against God or does he help Angel? Find out in the first story of it's kind. Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you can recognize.
A/N: Well you all are wondering why I probably am writing a short story after not updating my previous stories for a long time. There is a reason for this. My teach was having us write 20K+ words within a one month time frame in addition to having our normal homework load. This means that I had to write a lot of whatever came to mind and I couldn't focus on just my AKB0048 story as it has many plot points that I need to spend an ample amount of time working on. Don't worry for I have not given up writing stories I've just been having a ruff senior year. You know what else is great about this story? It's the first in its category. (0.0) (^0.0^) (0.0) Anyway, basic summary of this story.

Last night I watched the first episode of the new season of Once Upon a Time and saw that they were heading into the underworld. The first thing to come to mind is, holy cow they are visiting the domain of Hades, this is going to be way better than the previous seasons. The second thing to go through my mind was that there were no children within this "underworld." This got me thinking, what if the underworld was just for the grownups. What if instead, there was another place. A location different from the underworld, the Afterlife. A place where the kids who had something keeping them to this world belong. What if Henry fainted and disappeared at the same time that Emma was talking with Neal? What if Henry was now with our favorite members of the afterlife? This is his journey, a journey to experience, Angel Beats.

Chapter:1

The still grieving Emma Swan, had finally found a way to save her beloved Hook from the grave. Her best idea? Storming the underworld and taking her lover's form back from the control of whoever had him.

"I still think this is a bad idea dearie?" Rumpelstiltskin said in a raspy and high voice. Looking like his normal clammy pale self in a black suit, his power of the dark one present for those who knew what to look for.

"Well I don't think that you know why I need to do this. The afterlife has Hook and I'm going to bring him back." Emma said in retort as they made their way to the pond in the graveyard in order to enter into the underworld.

" Oh I know better than you, why the underworld is feared. But no," He said with a sigh. "I can say with 100% certainty that the afterlife has no hold on Hook." As he said this, Emma stopped and turned back to look at him as if he was a crazy old crocodile (:D).

"Hook is dead, crocodile. I killed him myself. You cannot say that he is in the afterlife." Emma said growing angrier and angrier with each word coming out of her up his arms to show he wasn't be confrontational, Rumple told her exactly what he meant.

"I know that he is dead, I just mean that you need to pick your words better dearie. There is a difference between the afterlife and the underworld. Try not to think to hard about it." He said with a sly grin at the end. While Emma was still stumped by what Rumple said. Saving it for later, Emma decided to follow him to the entrance of the underworld.  
Once the two reached the pond in which the entrance to the underworld resides, they were joined by 5 people who were ready to help her find her true love. Snow, Charming, Regina, Robin, and Henry were all there ready to enter the underworld. But at the site of Henry, Rumple begn to voice his displeasure.

"He is not coming with us." Rumple said with a firm voice, knowing what would happen should Henry accompany them on the Ferry.

"You don't have a right to say that." Emma said with both Mary Margaret and David backing her up. On the other hand, Regina was concerned by what Rumple was saying. Having known him the longest, she knew when Rumple's advice should be heeded. This happened to be one of those times.

"Maybe we should let Henry stay back. We don't know what evils await us in the afterlife." Regina said with concern evident in her voice. But to her dismay, Emma didn't hear it.

"No, he has been with me since the beginning of this cray story. He can protect himself pretty well. Rumple, open it up." Emma said in a firm voice, but if one was to listen in closely, they would hear the desperation within her voice.

"I'm just going to say this. Henry can't come with us to the Underworld. Not my rules."

Taking that as his que, Rumple pulled out the dagger of the dark one, careful to not have his name be visible to the others around him. He dragged the knife across his hand, drawing blood as a result. The, carefully, he tilted his hand over the water's edge, careful to not allow the blood to drop onto the ground.  
Accepting the payment for passage, the ferryman Charon appeared with his ancient vessel. What was strange about him was that he no longer was sporting the ancient, moth whole, cloak that he had since his birth. No now a days he, like Rumple, was wearing a fine Italian black suite and listening to an Ipod.

"Charon, you old bugger." Rumple said sheathing his blade and tossing his cane to his other hand before outstretching his arms. Taking his headphones off, Charon reached out to Rumple.

"Rumplestiltskin, ya bastard. Long time no see. Where you off to?" He said as everyone was entering onto the ferry. Taking note of Henry, Charon looked over to Rumple with a look asking if he was serious. Rumple in turn gave a slow nod of his head before Charon shrugged his shoulders, put his headphones out, and ferried them across the barrier between worlds to the tunes of Kenny Chesney.

AS the ferry crossed the barrier between the Land of the living, two things happened. The first was that Emma fell asleep. The second was that Henry vanished, not in a puff of smoke, a flash of light, or any other form of teleportation known to the Dark One and Regina.

"Where did Henry go?" Mary Margaret asked not seeing Henry. This shocked all but Rumple, Charon, and Emma who was asleep.

"Henry? Henry? Where did he go" Regina called in a frantic tone before grabbing Rumple by the lapel of his suit jacket. Rumple, to all their surprise, sighed in dejection and sadness.

"I told you guys, Henry couldn't come with us to the underworld." He said with a forlorn look etched on his face. Regina, remembering him say that from before asked again. "Where is Henry?"

"He's in the afterlife amigos." Charon said from the back of the ship. This surprised the gang as they didn't realize that Charon was listening in to their discussion. Charon on the other hand never took his eyes off of waters in front of them.

"What did you say?" Regina asked slowly forgetting the 'crippled' man she was holding in her hands.

"I said, Muchacha, that ya boy Henry is in the Afterlife now." Charon said slowly so that they all would understand what he was saying and not have to repeat himself.

"How did he get there?" David thought aloud, not expecting anyone to answer his question.

"Simple, when we crossed the barrier, he went to the afterlife. Just as every child who crosses the barrier." Charon said before blowing a bubble of gum, nobody had noticed that he had gum.

"Well that's good." Mary Margaret said with a clap of her hands, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"When we get there we can find Henry and we will all be good again." She said with a smile on her face which dropped immediately as she heard what Charon said next.

"Were not going to the afterlife?"  
"Wait, what?" Was everyone's reaction to this news.

"Aren't we going to the underworld?" Mary Margaret asked inquisitively.

"Yep." Charon said in a bored tone.

"But you just said that we aren't going to the afterlife." Regina said even more confused by this ferryman.

"That's right." He said turning the boat's rudder just slightly.

"I'm lost right now." Robin said to Regina.

"He means that the Afterlife and Underworld aren't the same thing." Rumple said with an exasperated tone.

"Yeah, Rumple can you explain it to them. I need to focus on this part otherwise we won't be making it past these water. Oh yeah, your free to tell them everything about the afterlife and underworld." AS Charon said this, a gold colored breathe came out of Charon's mouth and began to envelope Rumple in a golden light.

"Thank you Charon." Rumple said with a slight bow of the head.

"Like Charon said before, Henry can't go to the underworld. The underworld used to be full of children. Children who would accidentally fall before they could achieve their enlightenment. To change this, God, in partner with the great Sorcerer Yensid, took the barrier and changed it dramatically. No longer would children enter inter the underworld full of humans and get sent to eternal torture. No they now go to a school where they can't die. They work together and do what they need to do in order to pass on." Rumple said and after he had finished his spiel he sat back down with a sigh of content on his face for finally being able to tell them what he knew.

"Wait so that means that Henry is now..." Regina said not being able to even say the word. At seeing her distress, Robin took off his coat and placed it over her shoulder before wrapping her in a hug.

"Yes and no. Now that he is in the Afterlife, he has all the same gift, curse or whatever else you want to call it, so he can't die. But once he is 'obliterated' then he will have the opportunity to either go back or go forward."

"Well what about us? Maybe we could get him out of there." David said with that charming mindset of his.

"There is no way. The Sorcerer and God made it so that no adults are allowed onto the campus." Rumple said saddened to see the face of his grandson's adopted mother.

*Emma POV*

"Hey girl." I hear a voice say from behind me. I turn around to see Neal in my backseat. I know I haven't seen him for a while but he's starting to look like a failed country music artist. With his beanie and his stumble. Either way, I was still happy to see him.

"Neal!" I said and gave him a hug. To my surprise he squirmed up the middle and jumped into the passenger seat of my bug.

"How are you here?" I asked in confusion, he was dead. Sure I am going to the afterlife, but not in a bug, in a ferry.

"Well let's just say that I'm here to say hi. When you crossed the barrier, I was able to come down and talk to you. I'm not in the underworld, I'm in a better place. But Emma, you really brought Henry with you?" He said in a serious tone. Wait, even he is saying that bringing Henry is a bad idea.

"Trust me, Henry is a big kid, he can handle himself." I say to him with the same tone I told Rumple.

"That may be true, but you just killed him." He told me in a dead serious tone.

"No Henry is back on the ferry with Charon and Regina, Rumple would keep him safe if necessary."  
"No, once you crossed the barrier, ancient magic was enacted. This magic cast him from the underworld and into another place, the afterlife." Neal told me. I couldn't believe what he was saying, Henry was no longer with the others.

"Why didn't anyone warn me? Why didn't Rumple stop me?" I said to him in a dejected tone.

"He tried to tell you but two things stopped him. One, ancient rites. As the Dark One, Rumple was privy to knowledge and locations that no one on Earth is allowed to. Yet during his time as the Dark One he stumbled upon the Afterlife and Underworld. He learned of this secret and was expressly told by God and even a talking knife sent by the wizard that told him he couldn't tell anyone the truth about the afterlife. Otherwise he would be put to death and he would be erased from all history.  
The second reason was you. You rejected his warnings and as a result, Henry is now in the Afterlife."

"Can we do anything to get him home?" I asked in desperation. The son I now love, was now dead as a result of my failures.

"Nope!" He said emphasizing the p sound. "Just focus on saving Hook and Henry will be okay. The afterlife's rules are way different than the ones in the underworld, he will be fine. Just be safe okay." He said while giving me a deep hug. I just sobbed on his shoulders.

"It seems my time is up. Goodbye Emma, I'll try to keep Henry safe." He said as he walked out of the car and back to where he came from before.


End file.
